Incidence and predictors of mortality among neonates with respiratory distress syndrome admitted at West Oromia Referral Hospitals, Ethiopia, 2022. Multi-centred institution based retrospective follow-up study

INTRODUCTION: Respiratory distress syndrome is the major cause of neonatal death. However, data on the mortality and predictors related to respiratory distress syndrome were scarce. Hence, this study aimed to assess the incidence and predictors of death among neonates admitted with respiratory distress syndrome in West Oromia Referral Hospitals, Ethiopia, 2022. METHODS: A retrospective follow-up study was conducted among 406 neonates admitted with respiratory distress syndrome at five referral hospitals from, 1 January 2019 to, 31 December 2021 in West Oromia, Ethiopia. The data were collected using a structured checklist and participants were selected using simple random sampling technique. The data were entered into Epi data version 4.6.0.2 and exported to STATA version 14 for cleaning, coding and analysis. The Kaplan–Meier curve was used to estimate survival time. The Weibull regression model was fitted to identify the predictors of mortality and variables with a P-value < 0.05 was taken as significant predictors of mortality. RESULT: Four hundred six neonates with respiratory distress syndrome were included in the analysis. The overall incidence of neonatal mortality was 59.87/1000 neonates-days observations (95%CI: 51.1–70.2) with a proportion of 152 (37.44%) (95% CI: 32.7–42.2). The median time of follow-up was 11 days (95% CI: 10–23). Very low birthweight (AHR = 4.5, 95%CI: 2.0–10.9) and low birth weight (AHR = 3.1, 95%CI: 1.4–6.6), perinatal asphyxia (AHR = 2.7, 95%CI: 1.8–4), Chorioamnionitis (AHR = 2.2, 95%CI: 1.4–3.5) and multiple pregnancies (AHR = 2.2, 95%CI: 1.4–3.4) increased the hazard of death, whereas, antenatal corticosteroid administration (AHR = 0.33, 95%CI: 0.2–0.7) was negatively associated with neonatal mortality. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: High mortality rate of neonates with respiratory distress syndrome was observed. Chorioamnionitis, perinatal asphyxia, low birth weight and multiple pregnancies increase the, mortality hazard while administering antenatal corticosteroids decreases it. Thus, administering corticosteroids- before giving birth and special emphasis on children with Chorioaminoitis, asphyxia, low birth weight and multiple pregnancies is important for reducing neonatal mortality.